


11:33 am and the events that follow

by silentsmiles



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 12:23:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20564282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silentsmiles/pseuds/silentsmiles
Summary: “Marry me.” is what she says, and instantly imagines Veronica laughing and saying “ask me in another year,” or pretending not to hear her, or kissing her without answering, or any multitude of loving rejections or promises of later but what she least expects is“Yes.”





	11:33 am and the events that follow

Betty Cooper is a lot of things. She’s a journalism major, an intern, a pretty bad cook, and she’s deeply in love with one Veronica Lodge. For two very different people, Betty thinks that they fit together well. Veronica knows seemingly everything about her, and the same is true for Betty. 

It shouldn’t have been a surprise to her when at 11:33 in the morning, she realizes she wants to marry her. It’s a lot to process nonetheless. The sun filters in through the curtains and Veronica has already left for her shift in the local coffeehouse. Her side of the bed hadn't been made, and Betty can see the slight dip in the covers from where Veronica had laid the night before. Realistically, she’d known what she was getting into when they decided to move in together, but when she turns her head to see Veronica’s makeup left out on top of her dresser, she realizes that there’s really nothing that she wants more than to spend the rest of her life with the brunette. 

It’s in that moment that time seems nonexistent to her. She can see small specks of dust float through the air when the light hits them, and she sees the sun’s reflection in her computer screen when her head moves to the left. The scent of Veronica’s slightly burnt toast has nestled itself into the crevices of the kitchen around the corner. Everything is ambient and yet it feels like nothing is real.

In a state akin to shock, Betty stands up from her desk and paces around their apartment. Was she too young to be feeling this way? She had barely planted her feet in the ground, and yet she had just realized that she didn’t want her roots to grow without Veronica by her side. 

She pauses for a moment to look at the pictures that are scattered around the apartment. There’s a few of her family, some of Veronica’s mother, a good handful of Archie and Jughead, then there’s Betty and Veronica together with Archie and Jughead. Mostly, however, there’s Betty and Veronica. Betty and Veronica sitting on the bleachers of their high school field like they just want to be closer to each other, Betty and Veronica at a booth in Pop’s, Betty and Veronica holding their diplomas and smiling, Betty and Veronica on their first day of college, Betty and Veronica laughing at the camera- taken on their first real date. Betty loves these photos, she swears she does, but she’s finally back on earth and she’s standing in a too-small apartment surrounded by photos of her and Veronica. She’s gotten to the point where she can’t tell whose stuff is whose and she loves Veronica so much but she feels like she’s suffocating from the realization of its severity.

So she calls Jughead.

-

“Ok Betty first of all, I love you. Second of all this better be important because I am right in the middle of successfully taking all of the food your mom made last night up to my room and I do not need to be caught right now.” He answers, muffled so she knows that whatever he’s using to hold his phone up isn’t his hands.

“I’m kind of freaking out. I think I want to marry Veronica.”

“Woah okay give me one second-” she hears him say as she hears him presumably close the fridge door and walk… somewhere. “-okay. So, marriage, huh?”

“Yeah, I mean, I woke up late today because I stayed up all night working on this paper that I don’t actually have to do until a week from now-”

“Uh huh”

“-because I wanted to spend next weekend with Veronica and I don’t know… I woke up and I heard her bustling around before work and I just went back to sleep and then I woke up again and she was leaving so she kissed me goodbye, you know like one does, and then I went to go re-read my paper and she left me breakfast on my desk which I guess is actually lunch now… and then it just hit me, you know? Like I got hit in the heart with a lethal amount of ‘I am in love with Veronica Lodge’ and I realized that I could spend the rest of my life with her. And I want to. Like, I really want to.” She admits in a quieter voice than normal, as if Veronica could hear her.

“And this is a problem?” He asks, mouth full of something.

“I mean, kind of?”

“How would you figure that?”

“Well, what if she doesn’t feel the same way? Or what if we’re too young? I mean, it’s been me and Ronnie for the past three years but what if she wants to be a person who is, like, well-acquainted with more people than she is now?”

“Well-acquainted… Betty are you hearing yourself?”

“I just, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be with her, and I know she loves me but maybe… I don’t know… maybe being with me isn’t it for her you know?”

“Betty, can I be completely honest with you?”

“Sure. It’s not like you ever aren’t.”

“First of all, I know she’s completely in love with you- like she has called you her soulmate so many times that me and Archie have completely tuned it out. Secondly, I think you worry a little too much. If your life is how you want it to be as it stands, don’t try to turn it down because you think she could maybe feel a different way. If she doesn’t want it, she’ll tell you, right?”

“I guess you’re right.”

“I’m always right.”

There’s a long silence then, punctuated with faint sounds of chewing. It isn’t uncomfortable, but it’s weird in the way that Jughead always was.

“This is enough talk about me. How is Riverdale?” Betty questions.

“I thought you’d never ask. You will not believe how your mom decided to decorate The Register this month.”

-

In the following week, Betty thinks a lot. Well, she always thinks a lot, but she’s thinking way more than usual. The thoughts span from _ Should I sit down and talk to her about this? _ To _ Would we invite her dad to the wedding even though he’s in prison? Is that the polite thing to do? _ To _ God, I love her so much _ to _ Would we take each other’s last names? _

She’s thinking about that last question when Veronica stirs next to her. It’s early in the morning, and Veronica definitely would complain about being woken up if Betty rolled over into her arms or did anything of the sort so Betty just sits there and thinks.

Veronica surprises the both of them by sitting up.

“What are you thinking about?”

Betty can’t lie to Veronica, so she doesn’t. “You.”

It’s Veronica who scoots over, sitting closer to Betty, leaning down to place her head on the blonde’s chest. If she wasn’t sure before, she’d be sure now- she wants to marry this girl.

“And exactly what about me were you thinking?” She asks with a playful tone, reaching over to grab Betty’s hand.

“Nothing in particular, just that I love you.”

If there was a right answer to that question, Betty guesses that she gave it because Veronica shifts so that she’s above Betty, her sleep-tousled hair floating just above Betty’s face. Betty smiles up at her, and Veronica smiles back. Betty swears that in that moment, she’s looking at an angel. 

-

It’s about three weeks after Betty’s not-so-life-altering revelation, as she calls it. She still has a lot of thinking to do about it. About when and where to propose, about the ring, about what Veronica would say, about talking to Veronica beforehand, about almost everything. But she isn’t worried- she’s calmed down significantly after the initial shock.

Betty gets home late, but Veronica is supposed to get home later. Betty curls up on the loveseat by the door with a blanket to wait for Veronica’s return so that they can talk about their days. Grabbing coffees, making a few social media posts, and praying for the chance to write an important article isn’t the most riveting conversation topic, but Veronica always listens to her with a smile. And when Veronica starts to talk, Betty loves to hear whatever she has to say about some stuck-up customer, an order gone wrong, or really anything that Veronica deems interesting about her job. 

She’s almost asleep when she hears the door unlock and Veronica’s footsteps drawing nearer.

“Hey baby,” Veronica says as she sits down next to Betty, brushing the hair out of her face.

“Hey Ronnie. How was work?”

“Surprisingly good, although I did have a surprising amount of girls who seemingly didn’t know that ice takes up space. They kept pouring small drinks into bigger cups of ice and freaking out afterwards,” she says with a tired grin. “And your day?”

“Still hoping for something more than a ‘which celebrity are you’ quiz, but I think that some people in the office are starting to see that I have potential.”

“Well they should. If they don't, then I’ll march in there and demand to speak to whoever is in charge and demand that my girlfriend is recognized as the star that she is.”

In response, Betty just pulls her in for a kiss. One kiss becomes two and then two expands into several lazy kisses that leaves Veronica smiling too much for the two of them to continue. Betty moves down to her jawline, leaving languid, open-mouthed kisses along it, and continuing further to her neck.

“Shit, Betts you know this couch is too small,” Veronica says with a remorseful sigh, and Betty knows she’s right. She detaches her mouth from Veronica’s skin and says the next thing that comes to her mind.

“Marry me.” is what that thought is, and instantly she imagines Veronica laughing and saying “ask me in another year,” or pretending not to hear her, or kissing her without answering, or any multitude of loving rejections or promises of _ later _but what she least expects is

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Yes,” Veronica says. It’s simply put, like if Betty asked her if she wanted Thai food for dinner.

“Sorry. Again, what?”

Veronica laughs then, as sweet as a strawberry milkshake from Pop’s Diner. “Yes, I’ll marry you. Did you ever think I wouldn’t?”

Betty doesn’t know how to respond because yes- she did worry, but she never actually thought Veronica would say no. Then again, she didn’t actually ever let herself imagine Veronica saying yes. Instead of answering, she opts to lean in again to share her first kiss as a fiancée.


End file.
